Aerospace Product and Parts Manufacturing

Industry nature

The aerospace product and parts manufacturing industry comprises of aircraft assembly and maintenance, guided missiles production, aircraft engineering, space aircrafts plus the propulsion units and other related components.   

Civil aviation and cargo transport are also manufactured for police, hospitals and business use. Whereas, aerospace product and parts manufacturing produce aircrafts that are necessary for US Department of Defense and NASA use as well as for the telecommunications firms and TV networks and organizations.

The Federal Government is the biggest customer in the aerospace industry. NASA also has its need in aerospace exploration and space launchings while commercial and private businesses have their own share of purchases. Computer-aided design is used to boost overall performance in handing out the important factors and appropriate technology as well as the production process.

Working Conditions

The average aerospace product and parts manufacturing industry employee works about 42.6 hours/week in the year 2004 compared to 40.8 hrs/week for manufacturing employees and 33.7 hrs/week for overall industry workers. The working conditions vary since scientists, engineers and technicians often spend time in offices. Production engineers are mostly found in the factory section. Production workers often spend their time in high noise floors and may be exposed to organic compounds during working hours.

Employment

In 2004, aerospace product and parts manufacturing gave 444,000 jobs. The largest were in Washington and California, though there were many that are found in Kansas, Arizona, Texas and Connecticut. R&D employees are excluded though who works in separate firms.

Industry Occupations

The requirements include mostly bachelor’s degree in engineering. Master’s or doctoral degree is also preferred while for the technician field, technical training for 2 years is required for the high school graduates.

Training and Advancement

The necessary training and improvement when it comes to aerospace product and parts manufacturing, is highly favored. The engineering and doctoral degrees are preferred but for the unskilled workers, high training is important. Apprenticeships for other employees are also included if they gain enough knowledge in the computer-related field and production understanding. Computer skills are valuable in aerospace industry. This can be evaluated to gain proper experience in the related fields that will keep the industry in a steady motion.

Earnings

Production workers can earn more than the average pay than other industries. In 2004, an average of $1,019 is provided to aerospace industry workers, compared to $659 in manufacturing and $529 in overall private industry. The above-average salary is reflected in the worker’s performance to motivate them to concentrate on their specified fields.

Outlook

Employments in wage and salary jobs are expected to rise by 8% over the year 2004-14 phase but this is slower than the 14% rise anticipated for all the merged industries. This is due to a drastic reduction in the commercial and transport field caused by terrorist attacks in the US. However, a boost in air traffic and improvement of the financial status of the US airlines are turning the tables around.